Miller and Shellabarger to open at Inova

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For nearly 20 years, artists Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger have created a collaborative body of work that explores issues related to love, mortality, afterlife, time, togetherness and separateness in poignant ways.

“Together we do things that are primarily derived from our relationship or the nature of relationships and two bodies together and how that is different from an individual body,” said Miller in an interview with Bad at Sports in 2010, a Chicago-based arts podcast.

The bearded husband-and-husband duo are perhaps best known for an ongoing project they embarked on in 2003. In it, the Chicago-based pair crochet away from one another, creating a massive, pink, tube-like needlecraft piece. They have agreed to work on this pink tube for the rest of their days together. They've decided that when one of them dies, the other will unravel the piece, completing the work and leaving behind a large pile of yarn. The artwork touches on issues of time, labor and gender. But their work has taken many other forms as well, including performance, installation, printmaking, bookmaking, drawing, collage and video.

They’ve received many awards and critical attention from the likes of Artforum and the New York Times.

An installation of their work, “Miller & Shellabarger: Hiding in the Light,” opens at Inova/Kenilworth, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., on Friday for Gallery Night and will be on view through July 15. On Saturday, for Gallery Day, they will do a performance, perhaps the crocheting work, from 11 to 2 p.m.

Inova's hours are Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and Thursdays from noon to 8 p.m.

About Mary Louise Schumacher

Mary Louise Schumacher is the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic. She writes about culture, design, the urban landscape and Milwaukee's creative community. Art City is her award-winning cultural page and a community of more than 20 contributing writers and artists. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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